According to preliminary estimates, in February 2022 the national consumer price index for the whole community (NIC), before tobacco, recorded an increase of 0.9% on a monthly basis and of 5.7% on annual basis (from + 4.8% the previous month). This was announced by Istat, stating that such a level of inflation had not been recorded since November 1995 and that it is the prices of non-regulated energy goods that push the growth in the cost of living upwards.
In February, “inflationary tensions spread, in particular to foodstuffs, whose prices accelerate by more than one point, dragging over 4% also the growth in the prices of the so-called” shopping cart “”. This is what Istat says, commenting on the eighth consecutive increase in inflation and specifying that last month the prices of food, household and personal care goods accelerated (from + 3.2% in January to + 4.2%) and those of products with high purchase frequency (from + 4.3% to + 5.4%).
And Coldiretti underlines how “the war in Ukraine arrives in the shopping cart of the Italians, with the increase in energy prices that are transferred to the agri-food chain. Affected farmers forced to face increases in production costs, but also consumers with inflation that pushes consumer prices and increases poverty and hunger ”.
The leap in energy goods is transferred, in fact, to an avalanche on the balance sheets of agricultural companies forced to sell below cost also as a result of unfair practices that unload on the weakest link in the supply chain. Coldiretti denounces, in fact, that 1 kilo of wheat, despite the increases, is paid to farmers 31 cents; it is used to produce a kilo of bread which is sold to consumers at prices ranging from 3 to 4 euros depending on the city. The incidence of the cost of wheat on the price of bread therefore remains marginal at around 10% and the real problem is the cost of energy which has affected all production activities; from diesel for the tractor to heating greenhouses, up to the price of fertilizers to guarantee fertility and increase production. The paradox is, for example, that you pay more for the bottle than for the tomato it contains.
The acceleration in inflation, which grew for the eighth consecutive month, on a trend basis is mainly due to the prices of energy goods (whose growth passes from + 38.6% in January to + 45.9%), in particular due to those of the non-regulated component (from + 22.9% to + 31.3%), while the prices of regulated energy goods, even in February, almost doubled compared to the same month of 2021 (+ 94.4%; was + 94.6% in January). Istat specifies that, together, the two components explain two thirds of the trend variation of the Nic index. And inflationary tensions are spreading, in particular to Food Goods, which have increased on a trend basis both for the component of processed products (from + 2.2% to + 3.2%) and for that of non-processed products (from + 5.3% to + 3.2%). + 6.9%).
Core inflation, net of energy and fresh food, accelerates from + 1.5% to + 1.7% and inflation net of energy goods alone from + 1.8% to + 2.1%. On an annual basis, the prices of goods accelerated significantly (from + 7.0% to + 8.6%) and those of services by only one tenth of a point (from + 1.8% to + 1.9%). The cyclical increase in the general index is mainly due to the prices of non-regulated energy goods (+ 8.3%) and to a lesser extent unprocessed food goods (+ 1.7%), processed food and of Durable goods (both + 0.5%). The inflation acquired for 2022 is equal to + 4.3% for the general index and + 1.3% for the core component. Furthermore, according to preliminary estimates, the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) increased by 0.8% on a monthly basis and by 6.2% on an annual basis (from + 5.1% in January).